After getting its nostril bloodied within the Yard Brawl rivalry sport at Pitt, West Virginia hopes to play the function of the bully Wednesday night time when it returns to Morgantown to face Iona.
As they put together to face the struggling Gaels (1-3) within the first-ever assembly of the groups, the Mountaineers (2-1) are smarting from a humbling 86-62 loss to the workforce they’ve performed essentially the most of their lengthy historical past.
It obtained so out of hand on Friday night time that after West Virginia fell behind by 31 factors with 5 minutes left on the clock, Pitt followers started chanting, “Go residence, Mountaineers.”
“I am extremely upset,” West Virginia coach Darian DeVries mentioned. “There is not any strategy to sugar coat it.”
The Mountaineers had been out-rebounded 45-32 and their prime scorer Tucker DeVries tallied simply six factors on 2-of-10 capturing.
One optimistic was the play of freshman Jonathan Powell, who hit 4 3-pointers on his strategy to scoring 16 factors.
“It is a lengthy, lengthy season, however we’re going to work at it,” Darian DeVries mentioned. “The coaches and the gamers, we obtained to get some issues found out.”
Whereas West Virginia was getting hammered on Friday night time, Iona was incomes its first win, 62-59, over Vermont because the Gaels rallied from a 15-point deficit within the second half.
Dejour Reaves scored 22 factors and James Patterson added 18 factors to steer the offense. The Gaels additionally dominated the boards, 45-21, incomes 18 second-chance factors to 2 for the Catamounts.
One of many few downsides was that Iona dedicated 19 turnovers.
“We’re nonetheless not used to enjoying with one another,” Iona second-year coach Tobin Anderson mentioned of his workforce, which has a completely new roster.
Reaves, who’s averaging a team-high 15.5 factors, is a switch from Northern Colorado. Second-leading scorer Clarence Rupert (10.5 factors per sport) arrived this yr from Southern Illinois.
“We’ll compete down at West Virginia. I do know we’ll,” Anderson mentioned. “Our guys are enthusiastic about that sport.”
–Subject Stage Media
